248
rated on most studio cameras. On these the bottom of
the back standard was bevelled to allow for the move-
ment and pivoted around a centre screw. Some cameras
were refi ned with a rack and pinion swing adjustment.
Meagher produced a swing back that could be fi xed in
position by a slotted strut and screw.
The 1860s also saw the introduction of the repeating
back on studio cameras to produce two or more images
on a single plate. This was especially popular for the pro-
duction of cartes-de-visite. Interchangable lens panels
and cameras with removable septums allowed them to
be used for stereo and normal photography. In-camera
processing reached it’s height with the introduction of
the Dubroni camera in 1864 which had a ceramic inte-
rior to hold chemicals to process the plate internally. A
range of models were made in different plate sizes and
styles. Designs of stereo cameras continued although
most adopted Window’s design to hold two lenses with
some of the best known being sold by J. H. Dallmeyer
in the 1860s.
Travelling camera outfi ts also became popular with
the camera, darkslides and chemicals usually being
contained in one box or even within the camera.
Many of the designs that were introduced in the
1870s were still in production and use, especially by
professional photographers and studios at the end of the
century. It was developments with roll fi lm and smaller
hand cameras for amateur use that showed the greatest
innovation and change over the next three decades.
Michael Pritchard
See Also: Cartes-de-Visite; and Roll Film.
Further Reading
Coe, Brian, Cameras. From daguerreotype to Instant Pictures,
London, Marshall Cavendish, 1978.
Patents for Invention. Abridgments of Specifi cations. Class 98.
Photography 1855–1900, London, His Majesty’s Stationary
Offi ce.
Smith, R. C., Antique Cameras, Newton Abbot, David & Charles,
1975.
CAMERA DESIGN 4 (1850–1900)
Studio cameras
The basic design of studio cameras did not change
signifi cantly after the early 1860s and the move from
sliding box pattern cameras to front-focusing bellows
cameras had taken place. Refi nements to designs tended
to refl ect specifi c needs and the preferences of individual
camera manufacturers to produce distinctive and mar-
ketable designs.
There is no precise defi nition of a studio camera.
Field and tailboard cameras that were ostensibly de-
signed for travelling with could quite easily be used in a
studio. By end of the century companies such as Marion
and Co. and George Houghton and Sons of London
were listing cameras under the heading studio cameras
that ‘have been so designed, constructed, and fi nished,
as to meet the demands of the most critical user.’ The
cameras were generally large with a minimum plate size
of 6 inches square. They were constructed of mahogany
with brass fi ttings, rackwork adjustment at the back
and front and usually a double extension base. This al-
lowed the camera to produce a variety of negatives by
means of reducing and repeating backs, it could accept
a variety of lenses and could be used for copy work as
well as portraiture and it usually came on a wheeled
studio stand. The stands would be adjustable vertically
through a geared crank and would have adjustments for
tilting. Cameras were generally advertised in standard
plate sizes from 6½ to 24 inches square although larger
models were occasionally advertised in the earlier period
before enlarging became widespread.
The fi rst commercially made cameras for the da-
guerreotype process such a Giroux and Wolcott cameras
were rigid box form cameras and designed to be used
in a studio close to processing facilities. The sliding
box pattern of camera became more widespread and
although models were made for travelling the design was
also fi rmly used within the studio during the 1840s and
1850s. The cameras were generally whole-plate (8½ ×
6½ inches) or larger and with suffi cient extension to cope
with full-length to head and shoulder portraits. They
were generally mounted on a wheeled studio stand. The
widespread introduction of bellows to studio cameras
set their design for the remainder of the century.
Both the box form and bellows cameras performed
the same task of keep light from between the lens and
plate holder. Most of the innovations in studio camera
design were concentrated around the lens and plate
holding parts of the camera. Repeating backs were fi rst
introduced in the early 1850s for stereo photography
and were designed to allow two images to be taken by
a single lens camera. They were suggested by Claudet
in 1851 although had probably been in use before this.
With most an extended plate holder holding two separate
daguerreotype plates or a single glass plate was pushed
into position and was held in either position by a spring
catch. The focusing screen was removed completely or
pushed out of the way during the two exposures.
The craze for cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards from
the early 1860s and non-standard format photographs
through to the 1890s led to the development of backs
and cameras to accommodate them. Repeating backs
were designed to allow multiple exposures to be made
on one plate which was contact printed to make the
cartes or cabinets. Special cameras were designed with
multiple lenses to allow identical images to be made
with one exposure on a single plate. This technology also